Media Diplomats
MSNBC invited seven Democrats to debate each other in Philadelphia last night, hoping that the tougher comments in recent days from the Obama camp might signal a tougher exchange of views between him and front-runner Hillary Clinton. The media want to stoke a closer race, and the NBC crew did all they could to promote it, flanking Hillary with her two top rivals, Obama and Edwards, hoping for a fight.
It was time for Obama or Edwards to strike a blow, to land a punch. Obama likened himself to Rocky Balboa going after Apollo Creed.
But the big fight was more of a schoolyard scuffle.
Hillary’s juggernaut continues to have a cold eyed, steely discipline that doesn’t make many headlines with policy initiatives these days but keeps her 20-30 percentage points in front of her nearest rival. Her current tactic is to talk firmly, but generally.
Good for her campaign, bad for ratings. Without drama or an impending vote, these debates are more like two-hour marathons that no one is watching.
The thrust and parry on foreign policy had a studied quality. How could Hillary vote for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment that threatens Iran? Obama, Edwards and Kucinich jumped on her for that, likening it to Congress’ (and Hillary’s) pre-war vote supporting action in Iraq. They both implied that Kyl-Lieberman would gain her center-right support once she had the nomination sewn up, and was another indicator that Democrats needed to support a candidate of greater “integrity.”
Hillary is actually getting grudging respect from some commentators on the right, like NR’s Rich Lowry.
Away from center stage, Richardson had his line about “being the only one here ever to have actually negotiated with Iranian leaders,” and Biden his retort about having “negotiated SALT agreements” when Richardson was “still a Congressman.” Score one for diplomacy (if not historical accuracy).
Actually, score several points for diplomacy. Diplomacy is now in vogue. For Hillary it’s “vigorous diplomacy.” For Obama, it’s “reaching out aggressively to our allies.” Richardson wants “skilled diplomacy.”
Diplomacy was the winner in last night’s scuffle among the candidates. Hillary sees “a big diplomatic apparatus” ready to take the field once she’s elected. “Not just the Foreign Service (but) a lot of other distinguished Americans who have experience,” she added, “people, you know, like my colleagues Bill (Richardson) and Joe (Biden) and Chris (Dodd).”
Failed debaters with Hillary could take on Ahmadinejad and Putin. At least they’d have practice in media diplomacy.